Clive Thompson focused on Ninja Gaiden in his Slate article examining the motivation for playing difficult games. He contends that extreme levels of challenge can be initially very frustrating and may cause a game to be abandoned in disgust. However, where a game also rewards a player's perseverance by teaching the skills required to overcome its challenges, that player will have the motivation to finish the game. Ninja Gaiden, in his opinion, strikes the correct balance between challenge and reward; completion brings "a sort of exhausted exhilaration, like finally reaching the end of War and Peace." In 2012, CraveOnline included it on their list of five "badass ninja games", calling it "the pinnacle of action gaming at the time, holding onto that crown for an entire year until God of War released in 2005" and "a true video game classic, and maybe the best ninja game of all time." That same year, G4tv ranked it as the 83rd top video game of all time, also calling it "the best ninja game ever made and one of the all around hardest."Ninja Gaiden Sigma sold 46,307 units in the first week of its release in Japan, making it the third highest selling game during that period. According to the NPD Group, in its first month Sigma sold 63,637 copies in the United States. Next Generation reported that as of April 2008, 470,000 copies of Sigma have been sold in Europe and North America. Tecmo announced that they have sold 500,000 units worldwide. Like Ninja Gaiden and Ninja Gaiden Black, Ninja Gaiden Sigma has received positive reviews, currently holding an average score of 87% at GameRankings and 88/100 at Metacritic, based on 58 and 46 reviews respectively. Critics varied in their views on the technical aspects of Ninja Gaiden Sigma''. Although the gaming site 1UP.com called the updated graphics "a gorgeous reworking of the modern ninja classic," Pro-G said that they were average by next-generation standards and showed occasional "tearing, jagged edges, and mismatched collision between bloodstains and walls." References External links Official website (archived) Ninja Gaiden at MobyGames 2004 video games Action-adventure games Cancelled PlayStation 2 games Censored video games Video games about curses Hack and slash games Ninja Gaiden games Nintendo Switch games PlayStation 3 games PlayStation 4 games PlayStation Vita games Single-player video games Team Ninja games Tecmo games Video game reboots Video game remakes Video games developed in Japan